


Fifty Shades of Green

by Rinzler



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow - All Media Types, The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: 50sog au, M/M, except not abusive and disgusting and gross, i will battle that book to my deathbed i hate it so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6326467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinzler/pseuds/Rinzler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Mr. Queen will see you now."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifty Shades of Green

Sometimes Barry wonders if he was given superpowers.

Not cool superpowers, though. No leaping tall buildings in a single bound, or being able to fly, or turn invisible, or run faster than the speed of light. (That last one would be especially cool, though. But he digresses.) His only superpower so far seems to be his ability to develop completely inappropriate crushes on the worst people at the worst times. Crushes he can never speak about or let anyone know about because they would ruin his life.

First it was Iris, for most of his life, because she was the girl next door and always willing to play with him, the nerd boy with no other friends. In high school it was Caitin, and then Cisco when he started recognizing his bisexuality. In college he somehow managed to end up crushing on Len and Mick at the same time. He still doesn’t know how that happened.

So it makes absolute sense that when interviews for and lands a well-paying, respectable job and somehow isn’t fired after a year despite his chronic tardiness, he ends up crushing on his boss.

 

 

The office space that he was sitting in had about three other people in it. One of them was Felicity, sitting behind a really nice desk that was absolutely loaded with computers, typing rapidly. The other two were here for the interview just like Barry was, dressed in plain black suits with black ties.

Barry glanced down at his dark green tie and fiddled with it. Iris had picked it out, saying that the color really brought out his eyes. It was probably more appropriate for a dinner date at a nice restaurant than a job interview, and he sort of wished he’d worn a black tie instead.

He looked up as the door to the other office opened and another interviewee swaggered out, all cocky smiles and charming grace. There was a ‘ping’ from Felicity’s computer. She checked it, then rolled her eyes at Barry.

Barry bit his lip to keep from laughing. Definitely a no, then. Just like the last six.

“Mr. Salvatore, Mr. Queen is ready to see you now,” Felicity informed the room at large ten seconds later. The man in question stood up and took a deep breath, then marched into the other office like a convict would towards an electric chair. Barry watched him go, feeling slightly concerned. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his phone.

 _Is there actually a job position open or are you just playing another practical joke on me?_ He texted Felicity. He heard a faint buzz from her desk. She leaned over and picked up the phone, silencing it.

 _Of course there’s a job position!_ Felicity texted back.  & _you’re perfect for it, that’s why I convinced you to come & apply._

 _You hammered on my apartment door for ten minutes at three in the morning then proceeded to ramble my head off for another twenty. That’s not convincing. That’s me giving in to get some sleep,_ Barry texted.

 _Whatever, Barry! You’re here! & you are definitely going to get this job._ Felicity texted back.

 _Thanks for the moral support. I’m actually really nervous,_ Barry texted her. Felicity looked up at him sympathetically and then smiled. A string of thumbs-up and 100 emojis appeared on his phone screen, with some smiley faces here and there. Barry had a harder time biting back his laugh. He nodded at Felicity and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

A few minutes later the door to the office opened again and Mr. Salvatore came out.

Felicity waited until he had exited the office before turning to look at Barry. “Mr Queen will see you now,” she said, and winked at Barry. He smiled back as he stood up and made his way into the office.

It was a really nice office. A really, really nice office. Wall-to-wall glass windows dominated one side, the view uninterrupted because most of the surrounding skyscrapers were several stories shorter. There was a seating area on one side, with a nice coffee table and some leather chairs that looked incredibly comfortable. The floors were made of the same stone as in Felicity’s office space, green and streaked through. It looked sort of like marble.

The remaining space held a desk with one silver computer on top of it and a couple of leather notebooks and some folders. Placed in front of the desk were two more leather chairs.

Sitting behind the desk was the single most gorgeous man that Barry had ever laid eyes on.

He almost tripped walking across the office and immediately vowed to throttle Felicity. When he’d asked what her boss was like, Felicity had replied “Oh, you know. Another blue-eyed, blonde-haired, totally ripped Adonis. Nothing special.” He’d thought she was joking.

The man behind the desk did not look anything like a joke. He was wearing a tailored dark grey suit with a black tie that hugged his shoulders and chest beautifully, showing off how built he was. His blonde hair was the perfect not-too-short but not-too-long length, and Barry literally wanted to bite his jawline to see if it was real.

Somehow Barry made it across the office, stopping when he was standing directly next to the chairs. Mr. Queen didn’t look up, sorting through one of the folders on his desk and pulling out the next resume. Barry read his name upside-down on the top and bit his lip.

A few moments passed and Mr. Queen finally looked away from the papers in his hands. He seemed to be politely confused when he looked up at Barry and then down towards the empty chairs. Then a small flicker of something crossed his face and he waved his hand at the chair on the right.

“You may sit down,” Mr. Queen said. Barry sat, feeling oddly like he’d passed some sort of test he wasn’t aware he was taking.

“So, Mr. Allen, it says here that you graduated from Central City university with a double major in Forensics and Chemistry. You’ve listed several intra-city science competitions, as well as a couple of patents that you are a co-owner of. An internship with the CCPD, and an internship with STAR Labs,” Mr. Queen read off as he flicked through the resume. Barry nodded. “Obviously you’re used to rigorous work schedules, then, and striving for achievements at a high level of competition.” Barry nodded again.

Then Mr. Queen reached the recommendations. “Several detectives at CCPD, a Detective Lance here in Starling, and-” he paused, then looked at Barry. “You know my secretary, Ms. Smoak.”

It wasn’t really phrased as a question, but Barry felt the need to explain himself anyway. “Felicity and I met at college, we’ve known each other for years and we work well together. She’s the one who convinced me to apply for this position.”

Barry could have sworn the room suddenly got ten degrees colder. “With all due respect, Mr. Allen, I do not need any romantic entanglements in this office,” Mr. Queen said.

“You don’t need to worry about any,” Barry said, feeling irritated. “Again, Felicity and I are friends. I trust her judgement on this. Considering she’s the only secretary you’ve managed to keep for more than a year, I think you ought to do the same. The fact that you would assume any of my recommendations are there for less-than-professional reasons is offensive because not only does it discredit my accomplishments, it means you doubt Felicity's as well. Besides, we're both a little too smart to make that dumb a mistake.”

His irritation abruptly dissolved as he realized what he’d just said. “Mr. Queen,” Barry added hastily, ducking his head and staring down at the desk.

The room was silent for a moment. Barry bit his lip and glanced up at Mr. Queen, praying he wasn’t about to get thrown out. The other man was studying him carefully.

“Office hours are from nine in the morning to six at night,” Mr. Queen said suddenly. Barry blinked. What was going- “The office space next to Ms. Smoak’s is already furnished and connected to the Queen Consolidated system.” He reached for a pad of paper on his desk and wrote something down as he was talking, then ripped the top page off and passed it to Barry. “Bring that to Ms. Smoak, she’ll help you get set up. I expect to see you in this office at nine in the morning next Monday, Mr. Allen.”

Barry accepted the paper and glanced at the scrawling cursive lettering on it, then looked at Mr. Queen. “Okay,” he managed. “I mean, yes. I can do that. Thank you, Mr. Queen.”

Mr. Queen smiled at him. It was small, barely noticeable, little more than a slight curve- but it was a smile. “Congratulations on getting the job, Mr. Allen. Dismissed.” He said, and turned back to his desk.

Miraculously, Barry managed to stand up without tripping all over himself or the chair. Then he exited the office as fast as was humanly possible without running, heart going a million miles a minute.

_Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Not again._

**Author's Note:**

> There is slightly less sin in this than I was expecting myself to write...


End file.
